The
Targums from the files of the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project

Logos Bible Software is proud to be partnering with the team of the
Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project from the Hebrew Union College in
Cincinnati, Ohio to release a Libronix Digital Library System edition of the
Targumim. The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project (CAL), edited by Dr.
Stephen A. Kaufman, is a new dictionary of ancient Aramaic covering all
dialects of the language.

In the course of preparing the lexicon, electronic texts are being made for
every available Aramaic document. These texts are then being given lexical
form tags, part of speech and other basic morphology tags, and homograph
numbers to distinguish between different words that share the same lexical
forms. With these tags, every word in the corpus is linked to an entry in
the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon itself—an entry that takes all citations
into account.

The Logos edition of the Targums includes a comprehensive selection of
Targums from the CAL files (listed below) as well as a Targum Lexicon
generated as a subset of the larger CAL lexicon that includes every word in
the Targum corpus.

What Are the Targums and Why
Are They Important?

Targums are ancient Aramaic translations of the Hebrew scriptures. The
Targums are important source documents that can be compared with the
Septuagint in terms of their significance for doing text criticism,
understanding the history of biblical interpretation, and studying the New
Testament use of Hebrew scriptures.

Many of the Targumim we have come from the first seven centuries AD, and
some of the fragments, such as those found at Qumran, may well be older
still. As such, the Targumim function as important early witnesses to the
text of Hebrew scriptures and are commonly cited in the critical apparatus
of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, as well as commentaries and other
books concerned with establishing the oldest text of the bible.

More so than any other ancient translations, the Targums were interested in
explaining the text to the hearer, rather than merely rendering a
word-for-word translation. Many of these Targumim were used by early
Christian theologians, making these documents important for the history of
interpretation of the passages they comment on, both as snapshots of what
was being taught in early Jewish communities and as sources for later
theological work.

Scholars have long noted that when the New Testament authors quote the
Hebrew scriptures, they are frequently not following the Masoretic text (the
Hebrew text tradition used most often today). Sometimes the text of the
citations more closely follows the Septuagint, the early Greek translation,
or is of a mixed type, falling somewhere between the Septuagint and the
Masoretic text. In other places, a free paraphrase is used. With the
discovery of the older Targum fragments, such as those found at Qumran and
in the Cairo Genizah collection, many scholars are now reassessing these New
Testament quotations in light of the Targumim and finding some close
parallels.

About the Logos Bible
Software Edition

Those familiar with the Logos edition of the BHS will find much that is
familiar in the layout of the electronic edition of the Targumim. Variant
readings are displayed in an "interlinear" format similar to the layout used
for Qere/Kethiv display in the BHS. It is possible to link and scroll the
various Targums with each other and with Hebrew or English bibles, as well
as run comparison reports between the Targums, exegetical guides, lemma
reports, and most of the other reports designed for use with modern and
biblical language bibles. The two targum fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls
can link and scroll together with the Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition and the
Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts.

Don't let the amazingly low price of this collection fool you; to get
published, printed editions of all the Targums that these electronic texts
are based on, along with the various lexicons and concordances used for this
body of literature, one could easily spend over $1,000! (And the printed
editions wouldn't benefit from all the lexical analysis, corrections, and
collations from multiple sources done by the CAL team.) CAL has done a great
service for the biblical studies community in making the Targums readily
available, and we're working hard to make the Logos Bible Software edition
the most accessible, easy-to-use edition yet. A complete list of contents is
included below.

The Targum Lexicon. Notice that
definitions include information about which dialects of Aramaic use
that definition. Many entries include page numbers or spellings used
to locate entries in other standard Aramaic and Syriac lexicons.

A simple word search or advanced morph query can be
performed on a Targum or across many Targums.

If you own another Syriac lexicon (e.g., Analytical
Lexicon of the Syriac New Testament), you can KeyLink to it from
Targum Lexicon.

Electronic Books Included

The following Targums will be included (along with the Targum Lexicon and
a general introduction):

Targum Onqelos to the Pentateuch

Targum Jonathan to the Prophets

Targum Neofiti to the Pentateuch

Marginalia to Targum Neofiti to the Pentateuch

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to the Pentateuch

Fragment Targums to the Pentateuch

MS Paris 110

MS Paris 110 - repetition of the Decalogue

MSS Vatican Ebr. 440, Nuernberg, and Leipzig B.H. fol. 1

Targum Job

Qumran Targum Fragments

4QtgJob

11QtgJob

Targum Psalms

Targum Proverbs

Targum Ruth

Targum Song of Songs

Targum Qohelet (Ecclesiastes)

Yemenite Text of Targum Lamentations

Western Text of Targum Lamentations

First Targum to Esther (Targum Rishon to Esther)

Second Targum to Esther (Targum Sheni to Esther)

Larger Supplements to the Second Targum to Esther (Targum Sheni to
Esther)